Now Commenting On:

Morel wants to avoid surgery for back issue

Morel wants to avoid surgery for back issue

Email

Print

By
/
|

CHICAGO -- When Brent Morel took himself out of Thursday's Minor League rehab game for Triple-A Charlotte, the back pain he was feeling was not an isolated incident.

"It progressively got worse, kind of every day there," said Morel after Sunday's 11-9 loss for the White Sox to the Astros. "It felt good for a couple of days, and then just got back to where I was not being able to play."

The new plan, according to Morel, is for the third baseman to see a spine specialist on Monday in Chicago and then see another doctor in Los Angeles this weekend. He's not sure what the ensuing program will be, but Morel wants to avoid surgery if at all possible.

"Yeah, I definitely don't want to have surgery," Morel said. "I'm going to do everything I can to not do that and hopefully with some time off I won't have to.

"Obviously I want to play and be out there as fast as I can. But I have to be smart about it and stay away from serious surgery."

Prior to the game, White Sox manager Robin Ventura said that the team is figuring out where to send Morel to get better information, figure out exactly what his back problem is and "probably take care of it." Ventura was then asked what he meant by "take care of it" in relation to Morel.

"If there has to be surgery, just do it," Ventura said. "I think at this point, they've done a lot of things you can do without that. So send him to somebody who can specifically find out what it is."

Morel, 25, has been on the disabled list retroactive to May 18 with a lumbar back strain, but the back issue has plagued him since Spring Training.

"It's just frustrating," Morel said. "I know they're doing everything they can. The guys worked really hard. I guess it's something that needs to be looked at a little more and figure out exactly what's going on and hopefully figure out how to fix it."